Forbidden - Karla Sorensen Page 0,43

other person who’d earned that trust. But tonight, Aiden walked in, and without flinching, he knew exactly what I needed from him to smooth the raised hackles along my back.

The more he pushed me, prodded me, the more I’d calmed.

He met me where I was instead of trying to smother the flames.

And not once, despite my growing feelings for him, had I attempted to reach out in the same way.

What he might need in this new season of his life would look completely different than what I’d just needed from him. And all I’d done was avoid. Deflect. Hide.

As the realization came, Paige spoke again, plucking thoughts from my head. “The only thing I’ll say—my darling girl, one of the great loves of my life—is that if you want to know what he wants, you may have to ask.” She paused, continuing when I didn’t raise a protest. “And I’m not just talking about wanting a bite of your own cake, you know? You may know the version of him from behind the glass case, but is that really him?”

What had I asked him in the first couple of weeks?

Nothing.

Because the idea of Aiden—and now, the reality of who he was—had me off-balance and at a disadvantage, even if the disadvantage was in my head.

I tried not to feel ashamed because he’d gone out of his way to make me feel comfortable.

Sometimes you had your guard so far up, you blocked the good stuff too. And I was better than this. I was sure as fuck stronger than I’d been acting. So what if I tripped in front of him and spilled some coffee?

I liked who I was, even if it was hard for other people to get a real glimpse.

One of us was a locked box, and the other was on display for the world to see. Neither made it easy to make real connections.

A shadow moved away from the windows, and he walked out of the building. Across the parking lot, even though it was dark, I knew he was watching me.

With a deep breath and pulling from a well of self-control I didn’t know I had, I turned the key in the ignition and started my car. As soon as the headlights went on, Aiden dropped his head and walked to his truck.

“One day at a time,” I repeated.

Chapter Twelve

Aiden

“Did you hurt yourself?” my mom asked.

Of course, she caught the wince. Anya was sound asleep on their couch, and when I leaned over to make my first attempt to pick her up, I must’ve made a face.

My sister, Eloise, perched on the kitchen counter with a spoonful of peanut butter in her mouth, nodded slowly in agreement. “He did look very old and slow just now.”

I speared her with a look.

She smiled.

Deciding to leave Anya where she was, for the time being, I stood quickly, like I was young. “Just fell hard at work when I wasn’t expecting it.”

My mom’s face wrinkled in concern. Eloise grinned.

“You okay?” Mom asked.

“Yeah. I was … training with my manager and …,” I paused, trying to decide if it was wise to even tell them a little bit of this conversation. No part of my interaction with Isabel felt safe for consumption yet. I wasn’t even ready to process what it meant, let alone spoon-feed it to my mother and my younger sister, who’d devour it with the same unfettered glee as she was attacking that peanut butter straight from the jar. “I just fell,” I finished lamely.

Eloise narrowed her eyes, but I knocked her legs sideways when I passed into the kitchen of our parents' house. She kicked out at me, catching my hip when I cleared the island, and she was lucky I didn’t dump her off the counter.

I’d already been kicked at enough by one feisty twentysomething tonight, and I didn’t need my little sister added to the ranks.

And dammit, like I needed the reminder that she wasn’t that much older than Eloise.

“When did Anya fall asleep?” I asked.

My mom grabbed a spoon of her own and snuck the container from Eloise. “’Bout thirty minutes ago. Colored a picture with El after we had some dinner. Clark was here for a while and played Uno with her. Her forehead was a little warm, and she said she was tired, so I told her to cuddle up on the couch. She fell asleep as soon as I turned the TV on.”

I rubbed my forehead wearily. “I wondered if she